"Was it the evident physical decline of Napoleon that complicated this epoch by an inward diminution of force? Had the twenty years of war worn out the blade as it had worn the scabbard, the soul as well as the body? Did the veteran make himself disastrously felt in the leader? In a word, was this genius, as many historians of note have thought, suffering from an eclipse? Did he go into a frenzy in order to disguise his weakened powers from himself? Did he begin to waver under the delusion of a breath of adventure? Had he become--a grave matter in a general--unconscious of peril? Is there an age, in this class of material great men, who may be called the giants of action, when genius grows short-sighted? Old age has no hold on the geniuses of the ideal; for the Dantes and Michael Angelos to grow old is to grow in greatness; is it to grow less for the Hannibals and the Bonapartes? Had Napoleon lost the direct sense of victory? Had he reached the point where he could no longer recognize the reef, could no longer divine the snare, no longer discern the crumbling brink of abysses? Had he lost his power of scenting out catastrophes? He who had in former days known all the roads to triumph, and who, from the summit of his chariot of lightning, pointed them out with a sovereign finger, had he now reached that state of sinister amazement when he could lead his tumultuous legions harnessed to it, to the precipice? Was he seized at the age of forty-six with a supreme madness? Was that titanic charioteer of destiny no longer anything more than an immense dare-devil?

We do not think so"At least Hugo didn't follow the paragraph with "maybe".

4.Destiny (or God or the Infinite) is ultimately in control. A non spiritual person will of course dispute this but Hugo does seems obsessed with the idea of destiny and fate. This is probably why a lot of the novel relies on coincidence.

5.The more things change, the more things stay the same. Napoleon promised liberty but became a despot himself. After the downfall of Napoleon many monarchies promised reform but failed to deliver. The result was a return to the old political system pre French Revolution.

6.The people and culture of a nation should be the source of its greatness, not its military prowess.

I like the way the final chapter ties the Waterloo narrative into the narrative of the main story. I wasn't expecting that.